An English granny was in horrific disbelief after finding human remains just materializing in her garden. For over a year, she had no idea where the bones were coming from and even got the police involved.
Ann Mathers, 88, found a skull in her yard last July. This was the first time she experienced such a thing in the over 60 years she had been living there. The police turned the property into a potential crime scene but after further investigation, it became clear no human crime had been committed.
The Culprits
Instead, it was a group of gravedigging badgers that used her garden as a boneyard. The saucy creatures were taking the remains out of a local cemetery and bringing them to Mathers’ backyard.
Image: Emma Trimble/SWNS
“The badgers are tunnelling under the graves and when they come across one which has collapsed they drag the bones out and dump them in mum’s garden,” says Mathers’ daughter Lorraine Lloyd. “They are basically fly-tipping human remains all over my mum’s lawn and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Trending‘Teen Wolf’ Spin-Off to Star Sarah Michelle Gellar on Paramount+
The elderly woman’s home is next to a church graveyard and the furry thieves are dragging their macabre loot into the space via a nearby footpath.
What began as a scattering of human leg bones turned into the discovery of a human skull which sent the homeowner into hysterics. Law enforcement was called and an investigation ensued.
Police On The Scene
“There were human remains everywhere. We called police and they sealed it off as a crime scene,” said Lloyd. “I don’t know if they thought it could be a possible murder victim but pretty soon they found lots of holes in the garden where the badgers had been digging through.”
Image: Lorraine Lloyd
Mathers says one night she looked out and saw as many as eight badgers congregating in her yard.
They Can Stay, For Now
Local officials say there is nothing they can do to move the animals until the badger’s breeding season is over.
During their reproduction season, badgers collect all kinds of materials of which to construct their setts, or dens. Everything from straw to leaves and even old clothes are used as materials.
It’s likely Mathers’ garden was the prime dumping ground for what they think are unusable building materials for their temporary underground homes.
*Header image: Emma Trimble–SWNS
